US working with India to make investment easier for energy transition: Yellen
After a bi-lateral meeting with India's finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the sidelines of a G20 meeting, Yellen said the two nations have been collaborating across a range of economic issues, including commercial and technological collaboration and strengthening supply chains. «In particular, we look forward to working with India on an investment platform to deliver a lower cost of capital and increased private investment to speed India's energy transition,» she said in a statement while attending the G20 in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, one of India's most industrialised states.
Yellen did not refer to this platform as a 'Just Energy Transition Partnership' (JET-P), though other countries including South Africa, Indonesia and Vietnam have already agreed with public and private sector lenders to help accelerate their shift away from fossil fuels via JET-Ps established with wealthier nations. Energy analysts say India — a major emitter in absolute terms but relatively lower on a per-capita basis — wants a JET-P on its own terms: no phase out of coal and funds for clean energy expansion in the form of grants, not loans.
Richer, heavy-emitting nations are under pressure to help poorer countries speed up their transition to cleaner energy ahead of the COP28 climate talks in Dubai in November, with the world currently not on course to meet its climate goals. At the same time as Yellen visited India — her third trip this year and an indication of the growing closeness between the two countries — U.S.
climate envoy John Kerry was in Beijing to discuss the climate challenge with his Chinese counterpart. «As we look ahead, we reaffirm our commitment to achieve substantial outcomes through close engagement,»
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